Chapter 158: An Assassin's Tools

(Otowa stands at the door, left hand raised.)

Otowa: Well? What's wrong? Draw, Battousai!

Uramura: No, Himura! There's something strange about his left hand! He fires a gun without even moving!

Kenshin: Let me ask one thing. For who's sake do you seek revenge against me?

Otowa: ... That's right. It would be a shame to send you to the next world without knowing that. It was a friend. A good man. Those nights when we'd compete to see who could kill more in a single night, I truly enjoyed.

Kenshin: So you too have lived a life without honor. But that doesn't change the fact that you want revenge...

Otowa: Of course not! You are irrevocably my enemy! Stop wasting time! Should I finish these four behind me with my Baika Chuuzen instead?

(Kenshin falls into battou-jutsu stance.)

Uramura: Himura!

Otowa: OM!

(He opens his hand. In one split second, Kenshin catches a small arrow by the shaft.)

Kenshin (tossing it away): So this is your mysterious power...

Uramura: An arrow ... but there's no bow...

Otowa (snickering): You're right.

(He pushes his sleeve back to reveal the mechanism, a small bow.)

Otowa: Iron arrows fired from a six-shot bow by the strongest spring! The character on my left hand and that strange sound creates an instant of confusion. So you must have seen me pull the silk thread of the firing mechanism with my right hand on your blind side.

Kenshin: I'm thinking of a certain assassin's tool. A technique by which one could aim accurately a very small muzzled gun...

Otowa: That's right. My specialty is assassin's tools. No sword or martial art can match me. I, Otowa Hyouko, with these tools concealed all over my body, will bring down any target!

(There is a moment's pause as they face each other down.)

Kenshin: If you want revenge, I'll meet your challenge whenever you like. But this involvement of others will end.

(Otowa smirks and retrieves his sword.)

Otowa: I couldn't do anything so foolish as to meet head-on an opponent that has already seen past my Baika Chuuzen. An assassin's basic tactics is to outwit the enemy and catch him off-guard. It's nothing like the way a Hitokiri kills.

(He draws two small cubes from his sleeve and casts them into the pool behind Kenshin. Suddenly smoke boils out of it.)

Kenshin: That's-- (thinking) A poison fog!

Otowa: Assassin's tool Kasui Busuen. You might call it poison, but it won't kill you in of itself, just paralyze you for four or five minutes. I had two or three more tools I wanted to show you, but that will have to wait for the time of Earthly Justice. I await our next encounter. If you make it that far.

(He disappears into the smoke.)

Kenshin (covering his mouth with his sleeve): The time of Earthly Justice... ?

(Back at the Maekawa dojo, the tekkou Sanosuke punched is broken. Inui stares at it in disbelief.)

Inui: My tekkou--that's crazy--

Sanosuke: I don't know about invincible, but there's nothing this fist can't sma--

(His fist suddenly bursts, bleeding in a dozen places. Sanosuke howls in pain.)

Sanousuke (thinking): That's the reaction ... I used the Futae no Kiwami without letting it heal...

(Inui hesitates, puzzled by Sanosuke's reaction. Five policemen, armed with pistols, appear at the door.)

Police: Hold it right there, miscreant! Fire!

(They open fire. Inui, moving fast, blocks four shots with the tekkou. The policemen stand amazed; Inui himself looks a little surprised, then breaks out in a crazy grin.)

Inui: You know it! They'll even stop bullets! Ha ha! There's no way someone could break my Invincible Tekkou with their fists! Ha--ha ha!

Sanosuke: Don't call them that. (smiling) They're not invincible anymore.

Inui (instantly furious): I will KILL you!

(Giant hands break through the gate, sending policemen flying. Iwanbou's silhouette appears out of the wreakage.)

Gein: What, still messing around?

Inui: Gein!

Sanosuke: Dammit! (thinking) Reinforcements.

Gein (climbing up out of Iwanbou's mouth): Retreat, Banjin. It's already time for Earthly Justice.